A non-racist, unbigoted inquiry into the core teachings of Islam and what it all means (if anything) for non-Muslims

How Do You Get Someone to Take a Look?

I remember listening to a recording of a humorous speaker using the analogy of a guy who slowly loses his hair until he has only one hair left on his head. He shampoos that hair and combs it lovingly every day. But one morning when he wakes up, he looks down at his pillow and sees what was his last remaining hair sitting there on the pillow. And he cries out, "My God! I'm bald!"

When I look at all the information pouring in from Turkey to Bangladesh, from Britain to Australia, about the relentless encroachment of orthodox Islam, it seems that anyone should be able to easily see that Islam is a dangerous ideology and something should be done about it.

People who don't see this seem like the guy with one hair left, unwilling yet to recognize that he is going bald.

But then I realize that all this "information pouring in" is not being seen by those who are still unacquainted with Islam. If the only thing you read was the Huffington Post and the New York Times, Time Magazine and Newsweek, and all you watched was CNN and MSNBC, you would feel that you had a very good grasp of what's going on in the world, and yet you would have a very different view than readers of Jihad Watch or Citizen Warrior. From that point of view, anyone who thinks Islam is the problem would appear much like the sexist, racist bigots of yesteryear, so you wouldn't listen to them, further cutting you off from your last remaining available source of the information that could potentially pour in.

How do we open this closed door? If you try forcing the door open, the person could respond by reinforcing the door.

It's possible the door cannot be opened from outside. Maybe it has to be opened from within.

What would motivate a person unacquainted with Islam to open the door to the hideous, frightening, enraging information waiting to pour in and forever shatter his innocence? That is the question we should all be pondering. That is what should be keeping us up at night.

I want to hear it. What can you say or do that will motivate an unacquainted person (a person who thinks Islam is a religion of peace) to open his door and look on the other side? Because we don't really have to convince people. Once someone sincerely tries to find out whether or not Islamic doctrines are peaceful, they will discover the disturbing nature of Islam.

We've heard from many people over the years telling us that they were tired of hearing a particular person in their lives speak "badly" about Islam, so they started reading up on it so they could prove the person wrong. But of course, they discovered the terrifying truth.

This makes our task easier, in a way. We don't have to convince people that we know what we're talking about. We only need to make them curious enough to look into it. The facts speak for themselves.

So again I'm asking you — how can this be done? What have you tried before that worked? What do you think might work? Leave your answer in the comments below or email it to me and I'll post it for you (anonymously unless you tell me to post your name), and later I'll compile these answers into a post that future newbies can use as a resource — because once they become acquainted with Islam, the first thing most people want to do is share their mind-blowing new understanding with their friends and family, most of whom will think they've lost their minds. They will need help. Let's give it to them.